When a person needs inpatient support, there are many reasons their physical fitness and health may be impacted or they may gain weight. It can become a vicious cycle. Weight gain impacts mood, low mood impacts a person’s drive to workout and so on. Elysium’s Mission Fit programme aims to address these issues, and support people to lead as healthy a life as possible, even when being treated in hospital.
Jason Bonney, Lead Physical Health and Wellbeing Coach at Elysium, explains more.
“We set up Mission Fit almost seven years ago and since then we’ve seen amazing results including people who have lost four or five stones in weight. It’s based around education, building people’s confidence, goal setting and helping people achieve those goals.
“Mission Fit is a 12-week long programme and in our sessions we’ll base about 20-30 minutes around education on different themes. We also incorporate exercise. Many of our hospitals have their own well-equipped gyms with qualified staff and we also run ward-based sessions for people if they’d prefer.
“We supported one lady whose goal was to get on the bike in the gym. We worked with her in the ward with bands and other equipment to get her fitness levels up. It was a success and the lady made it onto the bike and achieved her goals, losing more than three stones.
“Some people may prefer football or high impact sports while golf or a more sedate option may be someone else’s choice – we encourage people to try different things.
“Mission Fit can also help people as they move along their care pathway. As they have unescorted leave, having a steady gym routine gives them a healthy option to enjoy while out and about rather than perhaps the more “traditional’ options of going shopping or for coffee. Lots of people are regulars at their local gym and volunteer there too, giving themselves employment opportunities for later on.
“The aim is to give people confidence and a “why” to examine diet and exercise. We find football tournaments can be a really good motivator; suddenly people want to be in their best shape! We have really high aspirations for the people we support and great belief in what they can achieve.
“It’s really rewarding to help people achieve their goals and improve both their physical and mental health and really get the bug for fitness. It really is one of the best medicines!”
